Tweezers



Dec. 23, 1930. c. wisTlcKEl. ET AL 1,785,919

TwEEZERs @riginal Filed Dec. 6, 1928 lig. 1, f

za le y n /0 n 27 y R /4 32 /2 /3 wuantozs @am Mm/4 l@ ,9. A MV Patented Dec. 23, 1930A UNirsn sTA'rEs PATENT oFFic's CHARLES W. STICKEL AN D WILLIAM R. TUTTLE, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK TWEEZERS Application lled December 6, `19728, Serial No. 324,080. RenewedMay 13, 1930. Y

` pain experienced by the subject under treatnient which `often is only endurable for a Icomparatively short time and therefore necessitates repeated Sittings before the work is completed. j

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a tweezers which can be set or cocked j preparatory to being used and which will operate to securely grasp the hairs and pull the same automatically with the roots out of the eyebrows or elsewhere so rapidly that the subject experiences no appreciable pain.

A further object of this invention is the production of suoli an instrument which is.

simple in construction and reliable in operation and which can be manipulated easily and conveniently by the use of only one hand,

thereby leaving the other hand free to be used for other purposes.

In the accompanying drawings r- Figure 1 is a top plan View of the improved tweezers showing the same completely enclosed in its casing for convenience'in carrying the same in the pocket or for storage or transportation.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of the same taken on line 2-2 Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a view similarto Fig. 2 but showing the cap for the casing removed and the 'hair gripping jaws projected ready for use.

Figurea is a longitudinal section taken on line 4 4. Fig. 3. j

Figures and 6 are cross sections taken on lines -5 and 6-6 Fig. 2, respectively.

- metal such as steel, which is doubled or folded Figure 7 is a cross section, on an enlarged scale, taken on line 7--7 Fig. 2.

Y Figure 8 is an inside view, on an enlarged scale, of one of the tweezer jaws.

Figure') is a longitudinal section taken on line 9 9 Fig. 8. Y `V 4 Figure 10 is a side view of the gripper arms and associated parts preparatory to pulling a hair or the like.

In the following description similar characters of reference indicate like parts in the several `figures of the drawings.

The numeral 10 represents the holder, carrier or support of the tweezers and the enclosure for the actuating mechanismtherefor, whichliolder in the preferred forni is constructed of a sheet metal tube which is square in cross section, so that it serves` as a convenient handle for manipulating the instrument which is held by one hand while the saine is being used. Y Y

lflfi-tliin the tubular handle or holder are arranged one above the other two gripper or arms ll and 12 which are preferably structed from a single stri of spring upon itself so that the two supporting arms are connected at their rear ends by a turn 13. The front ends of these gripper arms are constructed to `form two gripper jaws 14, the inner sides of which oppose each other and are adapted to grasp the hairs which are to be removed. Each of these jaws is preferably made somewhat narrower than the width of the respective gripper arm, and the front end 15 thereof tapers forwardly and the inner side thereof is provided with a cavity 16 which is preferably formed dishing or stamping this part of the aw outwardly thereby producing a salient gripping edge V1'? around the front and side portions of the each other the raised or elevated'margnal 90 front parts thereof will grip the hair which is to be removed and retain a reliable hold thereon upon moving the instrument away from the surface from which the root of the hair is to be extracted.

In the absence of such raised marginal edge portions on the gripping jaws, engagement of the jaws with each other upon pressing them together would be liable to occur at points rear 'ardly from the front ends thereof and thereby fail to grasp the hair which is to be removed. By thus concentrating the gripping area of the jaws on the front parts thereof, it is impossible for the hair to be grasped by any parts of the aws in rear of the front ends and thereby insuring` a proper grasp upon the hair by the front ends of the jaws at all times.

rlhe resilience of the spring arms operates normally to move the same as well as their jaws away from each other but the movement of the arms and the jaws toward one another effected manually by the pressure of the lingers of one hand which holds the instrumont.

The gripper arms and their jaws are mount-- ed within the tubular holder so asto be capable of longitudinal moyement'so that the same may be projected forwardly into an operative position in which the are engage-d with the hair to be pulled, and the same may be retracted into a rearward position for the pu lpose of pulling the na'r after the had been pressed against opposit sides of the same. rlhe forward movemei of the gripper arms and the parts associated therewith is effected by a button or linger piece 1S ar 1anged above the upper side of the tubular helder and provided with a reduced neel; 19 which passes through a longitudinal slot 2O in the upper side of the holder and is secured at its lower end by riveting or otherto the upper gripper arm 11, as shown wise in Figs. 1-4.

The backward or retracting movement of the gripper arms relatively to the holder is effected by spring means which are put under tension when the gripper arms are moved forward. so that upon releasing the latter the saine will be moved into their rearmost position. r-.lthough various forms of spring means may be employed those shown in the drawings are preferred and comprise a front abutment pin 21 passing transversely through the space between the gripper arms and secured at its opposite ends to the side walls of the tubular holder, a rear abutment pin 22 passing transversely through the space i, 'ithin the tubular holder in rear of the turn which connects the spring arms, a longitudinal guide rod 23 aassing through an opening 24 in the connecting turn of the gripper arms and l aving an eye 25 at its frontnend which receifes the front abutment pin 21 and an eye 26 at its rear end Vwhich receives the rear abutment pin 22, and a helical spring 27 surrounding the guide rod 28 and bearing at its front end against the connection between the front end of this guide rod and the front abutment 2l while its rear end bears against the inner or front side of the connecting turn 13 of the gripper arms.

By these means the gripper arms and associated parts are yieldingly held in their retracted, innermost or reari iard position within the tubular holder, and the return spring 27 is supported in the position in which it will not interfere with the free forward and backward movement of the spring arms, nor will the spring be cramped and prevented from operating to push the gripper arms quickly into their rearward position when the same are released.

The numeral 28 represents a downwardly projecting lug, latch or catch formed on the underside ot the lower gripper arm 12 adj acent to the gripper jaw thereof, and preferably formed by a piece of metal which is secured to this gripper arm by passing the reduced upper part 29 of this lug through an opening in the lower gripper arm and riveting or upsetting the inner end of this reduced part a gains the inner side of the respective gripper arm, as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 5.

ln the retracted position of the gripper arms in which the rear turn thereof bears against the rear abutment pin 227 as shown in Fig. 2, the catch, lug, or latch 2S engages f' with the inner side ofthe lower wall of the tulmlar iolder, as shown in the same ligure, whereby the tvo jaws are brought close to each other but do not actually engage with one another.

Upon moving the gripper arms forwardly by means of the setting button 18 until the neck of this button engages with the front end of the slot 20, then the catch or lug 28 will be arranged slightly in front of the shoulder 30 formed by the lower front part of the tubular holder whereby the resilience of these spring arms will cause the same to be spread apart and bring the catch lug 28 in front of the shoulder 30. Upon now releasing the forward pressure on the push button 18 the spring 27 will push the gripper arms rearwardly until the catch lug 28 engages with the shoulder 30, as shown in Fig. 8, so that the gripper arms will be held in this forwardly set or cocked position in which the two jaws thereof are separated from each other to their maximum extent, and can be easily shifted into a position so as to receive between them the hair which is to be pulled.

Closing of the two gripper jaws so that they engage with opposite sides of the hair and release of the gripper arms from the holder so. as to permitthe spring 27 to retract them, is preferably effected by means of a closing pin 31 guided to slide vertically-in an openingin the top wall of the tubular holder lgripper vbar ll, anda lower releasing pin32 guided for vertical movement iiran opening formed in the lower wall lof the" tubular holder and engaging with the underside of thelo'wer gripper bar, vas best shown in Fig.

3. 'Each of the shifting pins 31, 32 has its tively tothe tubular holder, 'and `at its outer lend each of these pins -isalso enlarged, as "shown at 34, so that this enlargementserves as a stop for limiting the inward movement of the respective pin' relative -tothe tubular holder. f

In `the use of this' tweezers the vtubular "holder-which servesas a handle, is grasped by one hand'with the fingers engaging the underside of the"tu`biil'ar holder and the "thumb engagingwith thepush button 18.

While thus held the push button is moved forwardly bythe thumb until the gripper `arms have been projected sufliciently to carry the catch lug 28 in front of the lower edge of the tubular holder, and then the thumb is rearms and their jaws ina forwardly se't or tcocked `position,and this also 'increases the tension ofthe compression spring 27.

'While the gripper arms are' thus projected V'and heldin a set position, the' operator places the two jaws astride ofthe lhair which isto bepul'l'ed and lwhenthus placed the operatorV pushes and *pressesV simultaneously downwardly upon the' upper push pin 3l byf'means of the thumb and' upwardly against' the lower push' pin 32 by means of the rst finger. Ow-

' ing to the frictional engagement of the catch =lug28 'with'the front edge of the tubular holder, the upward movement of the lower upper gripperfarmlll which isnot restrained against' downward movement will vrbe freely depressed by the downward pressure` of the Vthumbagainst the upper pushpin 31, thereby causing the upper jaw `to move toward the lower jaw andgrip the hair between them. After these aws have been thusclosed into 'a cooperative engagement with opposite'v sides of the hair, the continued inwardpressure of the two'push pins tending to move the Vsame toward eachother will cause the lupper' grip- 'per arm to be held against upward movement and the lower gripper arm to be' deflected inwardly lor upwardly a suflicient extent to carry the catch'lug 28E above'l the stopl shoulf der 30 on the lower edge of the tubular holder.

`Ythe :'liol'der' whereupon lthe-resilien'c'e" of the retr'acting spring 27' quickly draws Vthe two gripper arms backwardlyand causes the jaws ofthe same which are at this time in engagement'with opposite sidesof a hair to pull the latter out by the roots automatically.

By retaining the pressure of the thumb and first finger against the upper and lower push pins of the upper and lower gripper inner end upset, as shown-at 33, so'that this upset portion forins a stop which limits the 4'outward movement' of the respective pin relaarms, the Ihair' which has been pulled out will be retained between they jaws, but when the pressure upon these pins is released the Vhair-gripped thereby will be permitted to fall operation.

In order to prevent the hand from slipping olf the rear end of the holder while'pushing the-"gripper bars forwardly and closing the jaws upon the hair to be pulled, a forwardly facing stop shoulder is provided at the rear end of the tubular holder which projects laterally therefrom and is preferably formed on a Aplug or head 36 :which is secured'in the rear endof the tubular holdereither by a friction fit or by soldering, riveting or otherwise.

. This shoulder 35 is engaged by the small finger of the hand while the instrument is being held inl position `for use, thereby enabling the operator to retain a firm hold on the instrumentand apply the same quickly and easily to the hair to be pulled, and also release the gripper arms so as to perform the pulling operation on the same, thereby enabling a comparatively large number of hairs to Vbe pulled with this instrument withV ease and facility-in a short time.

Owing to the rapidity with which the hairs are pulledby this instrument no appreciable lpain is produced due to this operation, thereby enabling a considerable number of hairs to `be'pulled out at one sitting without distress Vor inconvenience to the subject. 'gripper arm 121s resisted thereby','while the In" the forward and rearward positions of the gripper armspthe same are spread apart vin a parallel position, as shown in Figs. 2

Iand 3, but when these arms while in their forward position are pressed together'by the 1 pins 3l, 32 for engaging a hair or the like Vthese gripper armsconverge or taperVforwardly, as shown in Fig; 10, whereby the pressure of these'pins exert 'a wedge action on usual number of objectionable hairs to be removed at one sitting.

It is unnecessary to provide any means for adjusting the tweezers for gripping hairs of different thickness inasmuch as `the jaws separate farenough when open to receive" between are not released from the holder until after the jaws have been firmly pressed against opposite sides of the hair regardless of its thickness, thereby rendering the tweezers self adjusting to hairs of any thickness and cnabling thick and thin hairs to be gripped and pulled promiscuously without requiring any special adjustment of the instrument for this urpose.

llVhen the instrument is not in use a cap 3T is slipped over the front end portion of the tubular casing so as to enclose the gripper jaws. The tubular holder and the cap 37 therefore form a housing for the main movable parts of the instrument.

As a whole, this tweezers comprises comparatively few parts all of which are of simple construction which can be manufactured at comparatively low cost. The several parts of the instrument are also so mounted that they can be easily manipulated by the use of a single hand and by arranging most of the working parts within the tubular handle, they are not liable to get out of order.

le claim as our invention l. A tweezers comprising a support, a pair of jaws mounted for forward and backward movement on said support, spring means for moving said jaws baclrwardly, and manually releasable detent means for holding said jaws in a forward position on said support.

2. A tweezers comprising a holder, a pair of jaws slidable forwardly and baclrwardly on said holder, spring means for retracting said jaws, detent means for retaining said jaws in a projected position, and means operable manually for lirst moving said jaws one toward another and then releasing said detent means to permit retraction of said jaws in a closed position by said spring means.

3. A tweezers comprising a holder, a pair of connected arms slidable lengthwise in said holder and provided with opposed jaws movable toward and from one another, spring means for retracting said arms, means for projecting said arms, detent means for retaining said arms in a projected position, and means for moving said arms toward each other for engaging the jaws thereof and releasing said detent means.

Li. A tweezers comprising a holder, a pair of connected arms slidable lengthwise of said holder and held apart resiliently and provided with cooperating jaws, spring means for retracting said arms, manually operable means for projecting` said arms, detent means between one of said arms and the holder'for retaining said arms in a projected position, and manually operable means for pressing said arms together and releasing said detent means.

5. A tweezers comprising a tubular holder, a pair of connected arms slidable lengthwise in said holder and held apart resiliently and provided with cooperating jaws, spring means for retracting said arms, manually operable means for projecting said arms, a detent lng arranged on one of said arms and adapted in the projected position of the same to engage a forwardly facing shoulder 0n said holder, and manually operable elements mounted on said holder and engaging said arms and adapted to shift the latter for bringing the jaws of the same together and disengaging said detent lug from the shoulder or the holder.

(i. A tweezers comprising a tubular holder, a pair of arms arranged side by side in said holder and consisting of a doubled strip of spring metal connected by a turn at their rear ends and provided at their frontends with cooperating jaws, spring means for retracting said arms arranged between the inner parts thereof and engaging its rear end with said turn and engaging its front end with an abutment on the casing, means for projecting said arms, detent means for retaining said arms in a projected position, and manually loperable means for pressing said arms together and releasing said detent means.

A tweezers comprising a tubular holder, a pair of arms arranged side by side in said holder and consist-ing of a doubled strip of spring metal connected by a. turn at their rear ends and provided at their front ends with cooperating jaws, a front abutment pin arranged on said holder and extending across thev space between said arms in front of the rear turn thereof, a rear abutment pin arranged on the holder and extending across the space in rear of said turn, a guide rod passing through said turn and mounted at its front and rear ends on said front and rear abutment pins, a spring surrounding said rod and bearing at its rear end against said turn and at its front end against the connection between said rod and front abutment, manual means for projecting said arms, detent means for retaining said arms in a proj ected position, and manually operable means for pressing said arms together and releasing said detent means.

V8. A tweezers comprising a holder, a pair of connected arms slidable lengthwise of said holder and held apart resiliently and provided with cooperating jaws, spring means for retr cting said arms, manually operable means for projecting said arms, consisting of a push button arranged on one of said arms and projecting through a longitudinal slot in the holder to the exterior thereof, detent means between one of said arms and the holder for retaining said arms in a projected position, and manually operable means for pressing said arms together and releasing said detent means.

9. A tweezers comprising a tubular holder, a pair of connected arms slidable lengthwise engaging with the outer sides of said armsV and operable manually for pressing said arms together and releasing said detent lug from said shoulder of the holder.

l0. A tweezers comprising a support, a pair of jaws mounted for forward and backward movement on said support, ,spring means for moving said jaws backwardly, and manually releasable detent means for holding said jaws in a forward position on said support, said jaws being dish shaped and arranged with their concave sides facing each other.

1l. A tweezers comprising a support, a pair of jaws mounted for forward and backward movement on said support, spring means for moving said jaws backwardly, and manually releasable detent means for holding said aws in a forward position on said support, said jaws being dish shaped and arranged with their concave sides facing each other, and the front edges of said jaws being tapered forwardly.

l2. A tweezers comprising a support, a pair of aws mounted for forward and backward movement on said support, spring means for moving said jaws backwardly, manually releasable detent means for holding said jaws in a forward position on said support, and a head arranged at the rear end of said holder and projecting laterally therefrom to form a shoulder against which the hand may rest while operating the tweezers.

13. A tweezers comprising a support, a

pair of jaws mounted for forward and backward movement on said support, spring means for moving said jaws baokwardly, manually releasable detent means for holding said jaws in a forward position on said support, and a cap removably applied to the front end of said holder for enclosing said jaws.

14. A tweezers comprising a holder, a strip of resilient material movable forwardly and t backwardly in said holder and bent to form two arms provided at their front ends with jaws and connected at their rear ends by a turn, spring means interposed between said strip and holder and operating to move said strip backwardly, means for moving said strip forwardly, detent means for holding said strip in its forward position on said holder, and pressure means engaging the outer side of said arms for moving them toward each otherV into a forwardly converging position for engaging the jaws with opposite sides of an object and disengaging said strip from saidholder, and permitting said arms to withdraw themselves freely from said pressure means.

In testimony whereof we hereby affix our signatures.

CHARLES W. STICKEL. VILLIAM R. TUTTLE. 

